The Internet enables misinformation to proliferate, but it also enables information to proliferate. This includes information that has been concealed or manipulated by government, corporate and media bodies because it contradicts the messages that keep them in big business. There are, in other words, two sides to this story. It can be a major hassle demanding intellect, intuition and patience to find the occasional real nugget among all the false gold on the Net. But the lack of regulation by government and other "interests" is actually the biggest benefit to consumers. They have access to all sorts of information they would not have otherwise.

Consumers, in short, do have to make some hard choices themselves, but in the long run, that is far preferable than not having the opportunity to make choices at all.

From an economic perspective, the risk to consumers is not all that great. If, for instance, they do run into fraud or false advertising and pay by a credit card, the credit card can always charge the fee back to the corrupt vendor.

From a health perspective, most of the sites the study refers to are not promoting dangerous drugs that have the illusion of scientific validation built into them via massive marketing and PR budgets. That's the domain of the traditional drug industry, and beyond all of the "small" sites with sometimes questionable motives, that is where consumers should be casting a wary eye.

Far more dollars are handed to these giants with their false claims, and far, far more lives are lost early because of them.

Yes, the government and media have lost control with the advent of the Internet. Consumers have not. That is precisely why Mercola.com is facilitating the transformation of the traditional medical paradigm.

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